Dubai: Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced a worker to one year in prison, followed by deportation, for stabbing his countryman over a money dispute.
The 21-year-old Sri Lankan defendant stabbed the fellow Sri Lankan in the head, neck and chest.
According to official records, the defendant called the 33-year-old Sri Lankan victim, asking him to help issue three visit visas for his friends to come to the UAE. “I refused and told him that I can’t do that. I gave him the number of a person who could get him the visas.
“In August 2018, I was contacted by a stranger asking me to meet him at a bus station near Burj Al Arab. When I went to meet him, the defendant was also there. They asked me to speak with someone on the phone and all of the sudden the defendant pulled out a knife and started stabbing me,” said the victim.
A Nepalese man who was passing by called the police.
Shortly after, an ambulance arrived and took the victim to hospital where he underwent a surgery that saved his life.
A 42-year-old Emirati policeman testified: “Dubai Police was alerted about a fight near Burj Al Arab. We arrested the defendant who admitted that he had stabbed the man. He told me that the victim owed him money and wouldn’t pay back.”
According to prosecution, the victim told the defendant that he could provide jobs for his friends for Dh10,000 each. The friends agreed to pay the money. He took the money from them in Sri Lanka and kept promising to get them the jobs, but he eventually didn’t.
The defendant denied an attempted murder charge earlier in courtroom
The verdict will be subject to appeal within two weeks.
